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A happy lily will brighten your spring days

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It’s spring, yay! Finally done with the cold and dry seasons, now all the flowering plants are happy and showing it. I consider you blessed if you have a happy indigenous plant under your roof – trust me, it balances out the negativity and helps with your attitude.

I, too, have a pretty young thing. I call her Lilly, but most people call her Clivia lily, Natal lily or bush lily, a perfect container plant for a shady balcony garden. They grow very well indoors, but only if you keep them in a 12-inch or larger pot. Note that they take a few years to mature and must have more than 12 leaves before they blossom.

I was told that every part of the plant is poisonous and that it grows naturally in woodland habitats here and in Swaziland.

The lily grows to 45cm, quite tall for a plant of its kind. Its flowers are red, orange or yellow. Be aware that flower colours can be different from the parent.

They have a very sweet aroma and have even gained the Royal Horticultural Society’s Award of Garden Merit.

I don’t find them at all hard to parent. If they receive partial sunlight and you water them well during flowering season, they will love you back. Keep them a bit drier in autumn and winter to encourage blooming.

Flowers probably have the same reasons as humans for loving spring – perfect conditions to grow, longer days for more daylight and warmth, rising air and soil temperature. Also, showery weather in Gauteng gives them the water they need to grow and look happy while making you happy.

They’re pretty affordable – I paid R100 for mine – but please make sure you get all the information you need. Explain to the nursery what your living space is like to help you with more tricks and facts for a happy lily.

This is a plant that you can’t help but to name or talk to, or at least I do.

Follow me on Twitter @SuccessVirtue

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